“My pleasure.”
He and Chelsea had moved tables and organized the kitchen, while Brandee had helped Megan with the dogs and set up the obstacle course they would use later in the afternoon.
The plan for the day was for Megan to talk about the benefits of dog training for both the owner and pet and demonstrate her preferred method of clicker training. Then they would turn the kids loose in the paddock with the dogs so everyone could get to know each other.
After lunch, the teenagers would be issued clickers and dog treats. Megan was in charge of pairing up child with dog. Some of the kids had been through this before, so they would be given less experienced dogs. And the dogs that were familiar with clicker training would be matched with newcomers.
“Have you heard from Shane?” Gabe asked. “I thought he was going to be here today.”
“He promised he would be, but he had something to check on at his hotel project.”
“Well, hopefully that won’t take him all day.”
Brandee heard something in Gabe’s tone, but before she could ask him about it, the camp bus appeared around a curve in the driveway. She pushed all thought of Shane’s absence to the back of her mind. They’d completed the preliminary work without him, and there wouldn’t be much to do while Megan spoke. Hopefully, Shane would arrive in time to help with lunch.
“Here we go.” Megan Maguire came to stand beside Brandee. The redhead’s green eyes reflected optimism. With her kind heart and patient manner, Megan was one of the most likable people Brandee had ever met. “I hope this group is as good as the last one.”
“Me, too. We had such a great time.”
“Of the ten dogs I brought that day, three of them were adopted almost immediately. The little bit of training they get here really helps.”
“I know most of the kids enjoy it. Some act as if they are just too good for this. But it’s funny, a couple of those girls that gave us such a hard time last month are back to do it again.”
Brandee wasn’t sure if it was because their parents were forcing them or if deep down inside they’d actually had fun. And what wasn’t fun about hanging out with dogs all day?
The bus came to a halt and the door opened. The first teenager who emerged was Nikki Strait. She was one of the girls who’d been so bored and put out the prior month. She looked no better today. Neither did her best friend, Samantha, who followed her down the bus steps. Brandee sighed. Perhaps she’d been a little too optimistic about those two.
“Welcome to Hope Springs Camp,” she said as soon as all the teenagers were off the bus and gathered in an ungainly clump. “On behalf of Megan Maguire of Royal Safe Haven and myself, we appreciate you giving up your Saturday to help with the dogs.”
There were a couple smiles. A lot of looking around. Some jostling between the boys. All normal teenage behavior.
“We’ll start our day in the camp meeting hall, where Megan will demonstrate what you’ll be doing today. If you’ll follow me, we can get started.”
The teenagers settled into the folding chairs Chelsea had set up and more or less gave Megan their attention as she began speaking about Royal Safe Haven and the number of dogs that people abandoned each year in Royal.
“Dogs are pack animals,” Megan explained. “They need a pack leader. Today it will be your job to assert yourself and take on that role. This doesn’t mean you will mistreat the dogs or get angry with them. Most dogs perform better with positive reinforcement. That’s why we use this clicker and these treats to get them to perform basic tasks such as recognizing their name, and commands such as sit and down. We’ll also work with them on recalls and a simple but potentially life-saving maneuver I like to call ‘what’s this.’”
Megan set about demonstrating with her dog how effective the method was. She then switched to a nine-month-old Lab mix that had come to the shelter only the day before and was full-on crazy rambunctious.
Brandee surveyed the teens, noting which ones seemed engaged in the process and which couldn’t be bothered. To her surprise Nikki was one of the former. The same could be said for Samantha.
Next, Megan brought the kids to the paddock so they could meet the dogs. Brandee turned her attention to lunch preparations. May had helped with the food. She’d fixed her famous lasagna and they would be serving it with salad, warm garlic bread and brownies for dessert. Last month they’d done chili and corn bread. As for next month...who knew if she’d even be around. With Maverick causing trouble, and Shane acting distant one minute and amorous the next, there were too many variables to predict.
A much more animated group of teenagers returned to the meeting hall. Playing with a group of dogs would do that.
Shane still hadn’t arrived by the time the tables were cleared and the teenagers got down to the serious business of clicker training. Brandee shooed Gabe and Chelsea out of the kitchen with plates filled with lasagna and began the tedious job of cleaning up. She wrapped up what was left of the main meal and put the pans into the sink to soak while she nibbled at some leftover salad and scarfed down two pieces of May’s delicious garlic bread.
It was almost one o’clock when Shane strolled into the meeting hall. Brandee had finished washing the plates and the silverware. All that was left was to scrub the pans.
“How’s it going?” he asked, snagging a brownie. Leaning his hip against the counter, he peered at her over the dessert before taking a bite. “This is delicious.”
“It’s going fine,” Brandee said, more than a little perturbed that after promising to help, he hadn’t. “I didn’t realize your business was going to take you all morning. You missed lunch.”
“That’s okay, I grabbed something in town.”
“I thought you had a meeting at The Bellamy.”
“I did, then David and I needed to chat, so we headed over to Royal Diner.” He was gazing out the pass-through toward the gathered teenagers. “I’m here now. What can I do?”